Key Performance Indicators

From Infocomm:

I had the joy being invited onto the TWIA podcast last night. Find it here:

http://thisweekinasia.net/2010/01/this-week-in-asia-episode-15-ipad-tsunami/

First off I want to say thanks to the team that puts it on for inviting me. I had a great time and I hope they invite me back again. I love their interview format and the general say what you are thinking round table Skype conference call.

Until next time!

Here is the description:

Michael Smith Jr, Director YDN SE Asia from Yahoo! joins the TWIA crew as our guest for the week. The discussion centered on the aftermath of the Apple iPad after months of speculation. With the Founders’ Institute coming to Singapore following after many incubators setting up shop here, the TWIA discussion group discussed the impact on tech entrepreneurship in Singapore and overall to the other countries Indonesia and Malaysia in Southeast Asia. With Maxis opening apps store in Malaysia and China’s declaration that they have nothing to do with the attacks on Google, the crew steered ahead with an exciting week in Asia.

• The Apple iPad: Who among us within the TWIA crew will buy it? We discuss how we felt about the product and the joys and disappointment accompanied with the announcement by Steve Jobs yesterday. An interesting point from Michael why Flash is not supported on Apple products.
• Founders’ Institute launched in Singapore: With Founders’ Institute decided to set up shop in Singapore. Michael also weighed in his opinions about the issue and discussed with the whole crew how the whole region will be affected by this sudden surge of incubators turning up in Singapore.
• Maxis setting up an apps store: Malaysia telco Maxis has set up an apps store for developers. We looked at the general trends of telcos trying to get into the apps stores bandwagon and chatted about the possible implications on the industry in general. One more thing, they are not telling us about how they are going to share profit with the developers.
• China denies involvement in Google cyberattacks: So, what’s next for Google China?

In the states right now freezing and lamenting the current Cali weather. Would be one thing if I was up skiing or something but I am not. Oh well.

Good to see Nokia coming out swinging a bit. I think all the stand alone GPS guys are going to be taking another one on the chin but in the specialty market I don’t think the phone version of GPS works well. On my motorcycle for instance I would not use an iPhone, Android or a Nokia. They are not waterproof, have small buttons and I don’t want the phone ringing while riding. I picked up a Garmin for my bike and am pretty happy with it.

Those interested in developer activity in SEA should check out this list put forth by e27. Should come in quite handy!

There is a lot going on in Singapore if you are in the tech/developer/media space. I have been thinking about it a lot and decided it was time to put my thoughts out there for people to digest. Right now Singapore is my part time home. I have been in Asia close to 10 years now working in tech, consulting, hospitality, and in general just moving around experiencing the coolest region on the planet. I have lived in Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore. I have had extended stays working in Japan, China, Australia and India plus I have traveled to every part of Asia but Burma. Southeast Asia continues to be my favorite area though but the problem is most of SEA does not provide great employment choices.

For those interested there is a Barcamp happening in Burma BTW.

For those not from Singapore I don’t think many people strive to work in Singapore. It usually just happens. Most of the good expat gigs are in Hong Kong or Singapore. Those with families tend to choose Singapore and the younger singles or couples tend to choose Hong Kong. In my opinion Hong Kong is not what it used to be as China slowly bleeds it out and fills in the harbor.

Singapore is probably growing in its appeal though given the tax rates, the ease of setting up a business and the current activity in the startup/investment community. Over the last six months Singapore is getting a lot of attention as a place for startups, incubators, funds and as a regional Asia hub for all things web/tech related.

Little things make the difference, such as HackerspaceSG – of which I am a member and absolutely dig the space. I think this is the first hackerspace in SEA.

Singapore as a city/state/government has thrown huge resources into getting companies/people/investors to want to build their business dreams in Singapore. Singapore is a great place to work. From firsthand experience I can tell you that getting my employment pass and getting my government paperwork sorted was a dream. The easiest country in Asia I have dealt with. The country is connected and the internet is fine but I get a little tired of the censorship and blocked sites. Such is life. There are a lot of incentives for companies to be in Singapore and recently the government has put together some great packages for investors/incubators.

All this is great but I have always felt that startups getting funded too early and too easily makes for lazy companies. I won’t name any names but Singapore is littered with zombie startups and companies who move REAL slow. I blame the funding models for the most part and the education/entitlement system but I digress.

Just look at the activity as of late:

New Incubation Scheme: http://www.e27.sg/2010/01/05/milestone-in-singapore-startup-ecosystem-introduction-to-the-7-new-tis-incubators/ . Some commentary on that here.

Then out of the blue Joi Ito and team decide Singapore is interesting – this could be the game changer in the sense that Joi attracts a certain crowd – a certain following. Read about Neoteny to get a sense of what I mean. Can also read more about Ito and team here.

With Joi Ito now comes others – http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/20/founder-institute-international/. All this attention is great for Singapore and may be the secret sauce that added to the government soup could be just the meal everyone is looking for but let me offer up a contrarian view of sorts.

If Singapore could, I am sure they would put a lid over their little island and control the weather. Imagine Christmas on Orchard Road with actual snow falling and you get my drift. One cannot create an environment – they just happen.

People tend to think that the startup world or ecosystem is simply created by incubators/funding sources/spaces/entrepreneurs/coders/designers and the government climate to allow all of these people to do what they do best with as little red-tape and corruption as possible. Makes sense and in this regard let’s give Singapore an A+. Having worked and lived in other places in Asia they have done an amazing job and this makes Singapore hugely attractive.

The problem is the rest of the environment that excites/challenges/inspires people is lifestyle. This is where Singapore is lacking and I am not sure they can fix it. Most of the people around the world who are involved in startups tend to be people living an alternative lifestyle. That is just impossible in Singapore unless you plan on going to jail. Others tend to go unfunded and live cheap so they can build exactly what they want and how they want without the fear of KPI police or early stage investors calling the shots. First off – you can’t live cheap in Singapore and I have seen incubators/government with PPT slides on KPIs. The bohemian or “starving artist” lifestyle is damn near impossible unless you have parents to bunk with.

Singapore will nail the business/funding side of this equation but not sure they can fix the “lifestyle” side but maybe Joi and team can help:

Neoteny (pronounced /niːˈɒtɨniː/), also called juvenilization, is the retention, by adults in a species, of traits previously seen only in juveniles…

It is strange when reading the web and you come across funky connect the dots type of reads. I spend a fair amount of time in Vietnam and have been watching the market closely. I also read Daring Fireball a bunch and appreciate his blend of tech and news. It was a treat today to check his blog to see a link to a Vietnam iPhone app. The app is called CatPaint:

http://catpaint.info/

Strange but true – I guess the weird stuff wins in the nascent Vietnamese iPhone market. As far as I know there is still not an official carrier but the hacking on iPhones in Vietnam is legendary. Even hardware based unlocking as shown here. You see a fair amount of iPhones in Vietnam – even stored dedicated to selling, unlocking and servicing them.

Playing with iPhones in Vietnam I have not seen anything real killer but you will see useful apps related to finding places and people. I like this model and think it has legs – one of the ones I have been following is diadiem which has an iPhone version. There is also Thodia but I don’t think they have an iPhone app yet. Something to watch for.

Lots going on in Vietnam. I was just at Barcamp Saigon and met a lot of cool people. Lots of follow up needed. Hope to be back next month.

Tonight I will be at HackerspaceSG and will write more about the local scene soon!

Some photos from Barcamp Saigon:

The goal was to get to all my countries before the end of the year – tough to do any thoughtful 2010 planning without getting to the places you are making plans for. Check my TripIt for stats. Going from no-flying to flying means I am a peon on Star Alliance again and hoping to get some love before the end of year cutoff.

I was in Manila for a week and did the rounds. Podcast interview here for all the groupies. Manila was an interesting market since it feels like it should be happening more than it is but the startup scene is very small. I think this has to do with the local domination of telecoms, the lack of an angel network and a quiet hacker scene. Very different from being in Singapore or Malaysia where the Government is throwing money all over the place trying to get things going. I need to dig more in Manila and see if we can help get things like Barcamp going.

Speaking of Barcamp – I am in HCMC right now for Barcamp Saigon. Looks to be a cool event! Hoping to dive a little deeper into the Vietnam scene this weekend.

Since I am in Vietnam let’s talk FaceBook – quite the backlash over the new privacy stuff. It is quite the reversal from what FB originally started as. For me, as the site keeps growing, FB is getting less and less useful. The signal to noise ratio just keeps climbing every month. Everyone is trying to use their personal FB accounts to be the next social marketing star. It gets old fast. I think niche networks might start to get more interesting as FB gets less useful.

Seems simpler plays liek Foursquare and gowalla might get more interesting because they help you with what to do and who to do it with. All this could change of course if FB gets more local and makes location based programming easier but for me – I am starting to delete friends on FB more than I am adding them.

Another possible entrant to the location/review game in Singapore. Will be looking it more soon. Seems similar possibly to Koprol. This is an interesting space since the big guys will focus on Europe and Americas while regional guys will try to build something in their home countries. I am waiting for one of the regional guys to try and take the whole region as a defensive play for when the big boys come to town. Question is will they since getting the local info is not easy.

Another possible biz idea for one of these players is rather than being the end user builder there might be a chance to be the pick and shovel dealer for all the various players trying to build social/location/yelp sites. Someone could be the guy offering all the location data and some sort of promo/ad engine around it. Then the other guys concentrate on building the interfaces, social model and grow the user  base. Right now all these guys are struggling with getting local info and building sites. Might be tough.

I think that is it for now. Gotta bunch of work to do but I need to get better with the blog.

cya

ps. Good to see one of the winners from Open Hack Day with his site up and running. If you are into twitter and Indonesia then you will dig this site: http://twiterus.com/